


Theatre Class

by Star4545



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teachers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-18
Updated: 2017-02-18
Packaged: 2018-09-25 06:40:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9807788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star4545/pseuds/Star4545
Summary: Dan Howell is the new drama teacher with a classroom the size of a jail cell, students who won't stop singing Hamilton, and the English teacher who won't stop giving him bedroom eyes.





	

Starting to teach at a new school was always difficult. Especially if you are Dan Howell, who is running out of his house ten minutes off schedule with his shirt inside out and only half buttoned and backpack open, keys dangling from his mouth and coffee threating to sip out of his mug. He had probably forgotten about twenty things, all the essential crap, but right now his main concern was getting there on time on his first day. He unlocks his car and quickly situates himself, taking a minute to realize that his shirt is inside out and unbuttoned and fixes that before turning on his car and driving to his new place of occupation.

He arrives at school with ten minutes to spare before first period begun. Thankfully he didn't have a class, but they had made it very clear to him yesterday at orientation that all teachers were expected to be there at eight, when the school day starts no matter if you teach first period or not. He walks in with his now zipped backpack and walks to the office to pick up the keys to his classroom. He gets direction to his classroom and unlocks the door. The classroom was small. Definitely the size of a jail cell. It was smaller than all the other classrooms. Dan assumed it was because it was theatre and it isn't a real class, more of an elective. Though Dan knew that the school was more centered around sports than arts and that’s probably another reason for the pitiful size of his classroom.

He puts his bag down on his desk. He takes out his laptop and places it down carefully. Then takes out the few theatre books and puts them on the bookshelf. He then decorates his desk with assortments of merchandise he has collected from seeing shows on the West End or the occasionally Broadway show. After making sure everything looked nice he arranges the desks in a circle and writes on the white board in the room, _What is Theatre?_ In his messy handwriting. He looks at his watch, he still had ten minutes before classes got out. He goes on his laptop and starts to search Tumblr as he had nothing else to do and waits for students to show up for his second period class.

Soon he hears the school bell, signaling students are being let out and he mentally prepares himself. Dan smooths out his moth shirt and makes his hair wasn't an absolute mess. He remains on his laptop till he hears the door start to open. "Is this theatre?" Dan closes his laptop and looks to the door to see a girl. She is dressed in the school uniform with mousy brown hair and bright blue eyes. He quickly gets up out of his seat.

"Yes! Hi! I'm Mr. Howell. Take a seat wherever you like and feel free to sit on the desk if you want." The girl smiles.

"My name is Katie. In case you want to check me off the roster or something." Dan nods, opening his laptop to the school website to get his roster. He sees he has seven students in the class and checks off Katie.

The door opens again to two boys who were playfully pushing each other around, ties loosely hung around their necks. Then quickly following them through the door is a girl with sandy blonde hair that is covering her face. Dan stands there, waiting for the other three to arrive. In through the door arrives a boy and a girl. They were holding hands and Dan could only assume they were dating. The girl has light dyed pink hair and the boy had blue eyes and blonde hair. Finally arrives the last boy who was wearing big glasses on his face. They all were sitting down at their desks, Dan trying to figure out everyone's characters, though it seemed impossible.

"Hello everyone," The bell rings signaling the start of class. "I'm Mr. Howell the new theatre teacher here. I thought today we could all get to know each other and then play some games if time permits. Theatre is a place where everyone is safe. No matter your sexuality or gender or anything really. You can say anything and I won't judge. We are a family now, yeah? You all will be friends in this classroom no matter if you are enemies out in the hallways. Feel free to sit on the desks and get comfortable. I'm sorry for such a cramped room. I hope to not assign too much homework and all. But still show effort and participation. Sound good?" The students nod and say terms of agreement. Some of the students sit up on the desks and Dan grabs his laptop for the roster, sitting up on top of his own desk. "So, who wants to start? We will say names, pronouns, grade, and one fun fact." Pink haired girl raises her hand. Dan points to her.

"My name is Connie, she/her pronouns, I'm a junior and I like pastel colors." Dan claps, along with some other students.

"Next." Dan states.

"My name is Thomas," The boy sitting next to Connie says. "He/him pronouns, junior and I'm dating Connie." Everyone claps.

"Carly." The sandy blonde says. " she/her, senior, I like movies from the eighties." Claps emanate.

"My name is Katie, she/her pronouns, I'm a sophomore and I can play multiple instruments." There are more claps. The next is the boy with glasses.

"Hi, my name is Carter, he/him pronouns, sophomore, and I like to stay inside on the internet." Dan laughs and gives them a high five.

"My name is PJ, him/he pronouns, I'm a senior who likes to make movies." A boy with brown hair and bright green eyes states.

"His movies are actually amazing." His friend says. "Like go on YouTube and look him up. Amazing work."

"Maybe later. And what's your name?"

"My name is Alexander Hamilton. My name is Alexander Hamilton and there's a million things I haven't done but just you wait." The boy starts to sing.

"Just you wait." PJ continues.

"Sorry, I'm Hamilton trash. My name is Chris, he/him pronouns, and I'm a Junior who is obsessed with musicals." PJ laughs and Dan claps his hands together.

"Alright, seems like everyone knows each other better now." The class nods and Dan looks to the board. He goes and stands by the board. "What is theatre? Anyone want to answer." The class remains silent. "Well, c'mon then. There are thousands of definitions that I'll accept."

"A place where people act." Katie says, almost like a question.

"Correct." The bell rings. The students start to pack up. "Okay, wait. I am going to assign you a quick homework assignment, to find a monologue, a one person scene, and bring it to class on Wednesday. You will have to perform it." The class nods and quickly exits the room. Dan takes a quick sigh of relief before looking at his schedule. He had a third period class, which was after lunch and then two classes tomorrow as well.

During lunch, a lot of the teachers eat in the teachers' lounge. The town was small, so new teachers were big news in the teachers' longue. Dan walks in and almost immediately wants to turn around. "Oh look there he is." Dodie Clark, the music states to the teachers she was in the midst to talking to.

"Phil, if you don't take him, I will." Louise Pentland, the guidance consular states. Phil laughs, looking at the man walking him. Dodie gets up and goes over to Dan. "Hello, are you the new theatre teacher?"

"Um, yeah, Dan Howell." Dan says, holding his hand. Dodie shakes his hand.

"Dodie Clark. I'm the music teacher. Have you ever thought about directing a musical?" Dodie says, leading Dan over to the two other teachers she was sitting with. Dan looks at all the other teachers, feeling their eyes judging him. Definitely judging him and his moth shirt.

"Hello." Dan says to the other teachers, sitting down at the table and getting out his lunch.

"Hi." Phil says. "I'm Phil Lester, the English teacher." Phil says, holding out his hand for Dan to shake.

"Dan Howell, theatre."

"Louise Pentland, the guidance consular/health teacher." Dan shakes her hand.

"Nice to meet you all." Dan says, taking a seat at the table and taking out his lunch.

"How long have you been teaching for?" Phil asks.

"About four years, two of them teaching History though I soon realized Theatre is my true passion, so I went back to school for that." The teachers nod. "Those other teachers are definitely judging me."

"They do that. They make you feel like you are back in high school." Louise jokes. "They'll stop once you become old news." Dan nods again and eats his lunch silently, the teachers talking amongst themselves till the lunch period came to a close.

Dan, after that, did not venture into the faculty room, opting to eat in his classroom. He didn't mind, especially since that meant he could scroll through Tumblr or browse YouTube to find videos for 'class,' really just for his own entertainment. Though after two weeks of doing so, he hears a knock at the door during the lunch period. Dan brushes himself off and goes to the door of his classroom to see Phil Lester standing there.

"Hey, you weren't coming to the faculty room so I figured I could come and eat with you here." Dan looks at the man who was dressed in a button up white shirt covered in little green cacti and tan pants, a small backpack on his back. Dan steps out of the doorway.

"Oh, come in then." Phil looks at the classroom. He notes how the desks were all piled in one corner of the room and there were beanbags on the floor. "Take a seat wherever you like, Phil was it?"

"Yeah. I like the beanbags."

"My students suggested it since the room is small and they don't do a lot of writing so no point in desks. Plus they are much more comfortable." Phil plops down onto a blue beanbag and gets out his lunch.

"A couple of my students or past students have been raving about you. Always talking about cool Mr. Howell. I used to be cool Mr. Lester. Now I'm just… Mr. Lester."

"Sorry, mate." Dan says, closing the door and sitting in a beanbag near Phil. Phil laughs.

"Do you like teaching here?" Dan nods.

"A lot of the other teachers are asses but the students are great and the environment is overall friendly." Phil smiles.

"You aren't wrong. Do you teach Thomas and Connie?" Dan nods, laughing.

"They are adorable." Phil makes a hum of agreement. "I love high school romance, it's so innocent, you know?"

"Yeah." They continue to talk all through lunch and somewhat into the next period until Phil realizes what time it is and rushes to his next class.

The next day, Phil knocks on the classroom door and Dan smiles at seeing the young English teacher. "Wanna eat in my classroom today? I would love to talk with you again and I don't want to be late to my class again." Dan nods, grabbing his lunch.

Dan, for the first time, sees another classroom and gawks at how much bigger it was. Phil's classroom was a nice sized room with a desk, a white board, desks in a semi-circle and a large windowsill with three potted plants. There was a student sitting reading a book and eating in the back corner. Dan recognized the girl as Katie. "Hey Katie, eating in here today?" Katie nods.

"If it isn't a problem, Mr. Lester. I'm sorry for not asking, I just figured you were in the faculty room. Oh, hello, Mr. Howell." Phil goes over to Katie's desk. 

"It's no problem at all." He grabs the book out of her hands. "Good choice, Katie. _I'll Give the Sun_ , I was thinking of adding to the curriculum, thoughts?"

"I think that's a great idea. I really love it."

"I know you would. Though I don't think the school board would approve it easily." Phil says, thinking aloud.

"Why?" Dan asks.

"There is a romance between two boys. The school and the town isn't super up to date with that. The teenagers don't care, though the adults do." Katie nods.

"Are they homophobic?" Phil shrugs.

"Not overly." Phil says, walking closer to Dan. "Though when I came out, there was a bit of a fit. It wasn't pretty."

"Mr. Lester, you're gay?" Phil clears his throat, he hadn't come out to the students, wasn't planning on it.

"Yes Katie, do you have a problem with having a gay teacher?" Katie shakes her head.

"No problem at all." Katie says, smiling.

"Good. Now Mr. Howell, why are you in my chair?" Phil says, looking at Dan who was eating lunch sat at Phil's desk. Dan shrugs, Katie laughs. "Mr. Howell, please remove yourself my seat."

"I don't see your name on it, Mr. Lester." They were making serious eye contact, Katie could sense the somewhat sexual tension between the two male teachers.

"Mr. Howell, Mr. Lester really doesn't like it when people sit in his seat." Dan sighs and gets up.

"Fine, I'll just sit with my favorite student Katie over here." Dan says, going and sitting next to Katie.

"Fine." It was silence until laughs broke out.

"Am I really your favorite student?" Katie asks.

"I'm really not supposed to have favorites…" Katie rolls her eyes.

Meanwhile the theatre class has gotten pretty close though it seemed as Carter was being ostracized. Dan sometimes realized how Thomas would make snide remarks when he hadn't entered the room yet and Connie would nod her head in agreement. Though Dan didn't worry because they acted like friends in class and that was his rule. He didn't start to worry until one day, before Dan was about to leave for Phil's classroom (the two had gotten close over the last two months, always eating lunch together), when Carter knocked on his door. Dan allowed him to come in.

"Hi, I know it's lunch but I was wondering if we could talk." Dan could hear possible sadness in his voice.

"Um, yes, hold on one minute, yeah?" Dan says, before quickly texting Phil saying there was an emergency with a student and he couldn't eat with him today. Phil sends back a frowny face. Dan pulls up a desk chair to the other side of his desk and Carter sits down. "Before we start, have you talked to your advisory or the guidance consular about this?" Carter shakes his head.

"I-I don't trust them like I trust you." Dan's heart skips a beat.

"Okay, what do you need to talk about?" Carter looks down.

"Um… I-I think I'm… how do I…" Carter stutters out, not completing the question. He looked shaken up and Dan rubs his arm.

"It's okay, sh. You can trust me." Dan nudges.

"I think I'm g-gay." Carter says, coming to tears, placing his head on the desk and sobbing. Dan gets out of his seat and rubs his back.

"Shh, it's okay. I-I'm bi, I understand what you are going through. Shh, it's okay." Carter looks at Dan through big glasses.

"My parents told me it's a bad thing to be gay. They are really homophobic. I-I'm scared if I tell them, t-they'll kick me out." Carter says, through tears. "I don't have any friends to stay with or family to go to."

"You have the kids in theatre class." Carter laughs.

"You are so funny, Mr. Howell. Carly and Katie sometimes hang out with me, but Thomas and Chris just make mean comments about me and the rest agree. I don't have anybody, Mr. Howell, I'm scared." Dan remembered he felt the same insecurities.

"I'll make sure they don't hurt you anymore, alright? And for the coming out. I felt the same way when I came out to my parents. I had just kissed a boy and I was overcome with the deepest guilt and anxiety. My parents had never mentioned anything about gay people before and I was crying as I told them and they told me there is nothing to be ashamed of. I would tell them, if things go badly we can go from there, but I will not let you live on the streets. I promise. I would never let that happen, ever." There was a knock at the door, Carter was still crying. Phil was at the door with a bag of cookies.

"Phil, I can't right now…" Dan says, quietly.

"I know but I made these for you and I was going to give them to you and then maybe ask you on a date." Dan takes the cookies and hugs Phil.

"Of course I will go on a date with you, but right now, I have a student who really needs my help." Phil nods.

"Which student?"

"Carter Adams." Dan knew that Phil taught him and Carter was in his homeroom. 

"His parents are the head of the PTA and they tried to get me fired when I came out." Dan sighs. "They wanted him out of my advisory, but I fought for him."

"Maybe you should come in. He is having a rough time." Phil nods and goes in.

"Hey Carter, what's up?" Phil could hear crying. "Dan- I mean Mr. Howell, what's going on?" Dan goes over to Carter.

"Can I tell him?" Dan whispers in Carter's ear, making him cry more, but he nods. "Carter is gay and he is immensely worried his parents will disown him."

"Oh my god." Phil goes over to Carter. "We'll talk to your parents together, yeah? I won't let you do this alone." Carter nods, rubbing his eyes. "I'll email them when I get back to my room and we will have a conference. Meanwhile, take the rest of the day easy, what do you have next period?"

"Free."

"Go to the nurse and get a nap, yeah?" Carter nods, getting up weakly.

"Thank you, Mr. Howell and Mr. Lester." Dan ruffles Carter's hair.

"No problem, little buddy." Carter leaves the room. "So want to go out today after school for coffee?" 

"Sounds great." Phil replies.

The two go out after school that day to a coffee place near the school. They walk in, Phil ordering the coffee, Dan the pastries. The two teachers sit down and start to chat about their students and about life outside of school. "I really want a dog, but I can barely take care of a cactus, so I don't think that's such a good idea." Phil says, making Dan laugh. The little bell above the door rings and Dan spots a Carly, Katie, Chris and PJ walking in, all laughing and bumbling around.

"Student alert." Dan says to Phil. "If they catch us on a date, we will never hear the end of-"

"Mr. Howell?" Chris loudly asks. "Mr. Howell! It's me, Chris." Dan blushes a heavy red. Katie runs over to them.

"Are you two on a date? Carly I called it, you're paying for my hot chocolate." Carly groans.

"And hello to you too. Yes we are on a date." Phil answers.

"Aw you two are too cute." PJ says.

The two teachers sit for the rest of their in a somewhat awkward silence. The students have all gone but it seemed that they ruined the mood. They walk outside of the coffee place.

"Dan, I really like you."

"I really like you too, Mr. Lester." Dan says. Phil places a soft kiss to Dan's lips.

"Mr. Howell, you are book I never want to finish teaching."

"You are like the songs of a catchy musical."

"Please kiss me again." Dan kisses Phil.

 When they return to school the next week, the students were a frenzy, asking millions of questions a minute. And since students were asking questions, so were teachers. All of them wanting to know their business. It was during Phil's English Class, the one right after lunch. The students that had come in early realized Dan was in the classroom and Phil blurts out. "I like Mr. Howell and I know you all think he is hot. Stop lying to yourself." And then Mr. Lester began to teach.


End file.
